I have seen this happen a few times now, and it puzzles me as much as ever: sometimes a thread is locked way before its time is up, with no comment. This time it is the Yakim Peled thread. I am still waiting to hear what is happening about it, but there is no way to post there any more.

I'm not active that much anymore Borderlight and this is news to me. I feel the need to voice myself.

Yakim was quite helpful to me and always pointed me in the right direction when I first started out in this hobby. He was always kind to speak to and I had gotten to know him a through PM's. He was a great person to converse with. We got along quite well due to having very similar opinions and outlooks on things involving life.

Now that I see he took his own life, I'm a little bothered. I've always been an exceptional judge of character and have had many people tell me I should have been a psychologist.
Reflecting back on our conversations about the current state of the world, as well as dealing with personal struggles and demons, I notice something I never noticed before. Quite of few of his messages were filled with a type of forlorn despondency that wasn't really noticeable. It was never outright admission of any types of problems, but thinking about some of those messages, I can see there was something more to them. I recognize it all too well, as I've been down that road.

Yakim sent me a PM a few months back. It was about the time I went AWOL from the board and my activity here took a large decline. I never replied to that PM. Had I replied, we may have grown closer as friends and I can only wonder if he'd still be here.

Yakim, I hope you are in a better place my friend. A place that isn't tainted and jaded. I will miss you and the Alt board will be a little quieter without you. May you eternally rest in peace.

borderlight wrote:
I am guessing that Fred allowed the thread wind itself down. Everyone had an extended time to say their peace. Funerals don't last forever.

There are older threads here which are not locked, so it did not wind itself down, it was locked by someone. The thread had two purposes, to talk about Yakim, and now more importantly, to arrange sending some money to his family.

Thanks for keeping track. I'd still like to make a donation to Yakim's family, in his memory. Previous threads indicate that there are practical obstacles or at least concerns to be resolved, before this can be accomplished.

The original thread was open for quite some time so everyone could share their condolences.

Our site was never involved with donation transactions but in the case of Yakim, we tried our best to find a safe and secure solution. Unfortunately, after several attempts, I was unable to verify the validity of sending donations to Israel via Paypal.

My idea was to use his own verified Paypal address to make sure the money would reach his family. But, Paypal advised me that if we did this, the downfall would be the paperwork involved and there is no guarantee that his heirs would have access to the funds.

Someone had mentioned a different Paypal address but, it was one that had never been used by Yakim during his time on the site and Paypal could not verify it. I know everyone has good intentions and wants to help, but sending funds to an unverified Paypal account cannot be endorsed or advertised here on the site for our own protection.

For the reasons above, we decided not to proceed.

Although we don't endorse any charities, you could always seek out an established suicide prevention or other charitable organization (on your own), and make a donation in the name of Yakim Peled to honor his memory.

This thread will now be locked. If you have any questions regarding this, please contact me via PM.
Thank you,
Fred